The Lovegood Woman
by LadyShinigami12
Summary: Rolf Scamander never really wanted a peaceful life, but why did he have to meet that Lovegood Woman? He just wanted to do his research in peace.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: so the 1st and 3rd chapters are ~medium, while the 2nd chapter is pretty long. I don't own anything, except the Winged Warble.**

Rolf hated that _woman_ so much he had started to think about going back home, which is something he never thought about

Back home was his rather judgmental father, who did not approve of Rolf following in his grandfather's footsteps. He wanted Rolf to join the Ministry like his too-perfect sisters. But his grandfather had taught him the wonders of tracing and tracking magical beasts and he could not turn it down.

But if his father thought he was crazy, Rolf would pay good money to see his father in a room with the Lovegood woman for five minutes.

The Lovegood Woman. That was the only name Rolf thought suited her. Not Luna, not Miss Lovegood, not even Loony, as she was referred to by the other people spending their time in the inn, (although the name did have some merit.)

Of all the places on earth, why did she have to do her 'research' in the same forest as him? He, at least, was doing something respectable, doing research on the rare Jobberknoll bird. At least the Jobberknoll had been proven to exist. No, The Lovegood Woman was tracing _Winged Warbles_ "of which there have been several sightings in this area. Lots of people have come and told my father about them."

Rolf rolled his eyes and ordered another firewhiskey from the bar. Thankfully, he was able to avoid her most days, as she came down from her room (which happened to be right next to his, more to his displeasure) early in the morning and went out in search for her beloved Warble, and did not return until late in the night. Unfortunately, that did not prevent him from meeting her while he was tracking Jobberknolls.

"Y'all right Rolf?" The bartender asked him. As the winter weather was still slowly melting away, not many people had come for business yet, leaving Rolf and a small group of men playing a card game at the table across the room.

"I had another run-in with the Lovegood woman today." Rolf told her. The bartender, Lenny, was acquainted with her, as he had to throw her out on one occasion when she insisted his establishment had been infested with Wrackspurts.

"What did Loony want with ya?" Lenny asked.

"We got into an argument about whether a set of tracks belonged to an injured Warble or a Jobberknoll." an 'argument' might have overstated what it actually was. Mostly, Rolf was yelling at her deep in the forest, while the Lovegood woman smiled almost pityingly at him, and spoke to him like a child who didn't understand. Her calm demeanor almost always made him more infuriated than less.

"Well, don't let her bother ya." He said, passing Rolf another Firewhiskey. "One day, a giant rock is gonna fall on her head, and then she'll see sense."

Rolf smiled at the image. He knew Lenny didn't really think too highly of Rolf, as he thought spending your days chasing wild beasts was not a very respectable job. But, between Rolf and the Lovegood Woman, Lenny would always choose Rolf.

Rolf thanked Lenny for the drinks and headed back to the inn. He needed a good night's rest so that he could deal with _her_ the next day.

Rolf was surprised to find her returning to her room as well, as she normally might stay until midnight in the forest. She had her usual aggravating smile on her face and she practically skipped into the inn.

"Hello, Mr. Scamander." She said when she saw Rolf enter with her.

He nodded his own greeting and said, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Oh, well, I had a rather good day today, so I decided to turn in early. You see right after I found the Warble tracks—you saw them—I found some excrement. Here, look, I took a sample."

Rolf tried to look at least moderately respectful as she pulled out a small, clear vial from her robes. Looking at it though, he was surprised to find he could not identify the animal it belonged to, and it definitely was some sort of excrement. For a moment, he forgot his hatred of the woman before him and examined it solely with his eyes. One thing was for sure, this did not belong to a Jobberknoll.

"I just know it was a Warble. I'm going to do some tests on it tomorrow, maybe if I find out what it eats, I'll be able to set up a trap for it. Just to attract it of course, I wouldn't actually want to trap the poor beast." She took the small bag back and went upstairs to her room. Rolf watched her long, blonde hair bounce all the way.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: like I said, this one's a bit longer. I don't own anything except the mocking beast (read on, you'll know what I'm talking about).**

The next day, Rolf forgot all about the Lovegood Woman and her bag of excrement. He was close on the tail of the Jobberknoll.

As much as he enjoyed the company of the others at the inn and in the village, out in the forest was where he truly felt at home. When it came down to it, he was just as much of an outsider as the Lovegood woman, except that he wasn't crazy. But out in the forest, there was no one to judge him or his career choices. It was just him and the trees and the animals. The sensation of peaceful calm made him almost giddy.

Rolf paused. If there was anywhere in the entire forest where the Jobberknoll might be perched, it was here, in this tree. Rolf looked up and had to squint through the branches, but there, right there, he saw it. Perched exactly the way his grandfather had described to him, was the Jobberknoll. Rolf reached into his bag and grabbed his camera. Carefully he set up the shot. He had never really been known for his photography, so he silently prayed that nothing would interrupt him.

There was a loud gasp behind him and he nearly dropped the camera. He would be lucky if the Jobberknoll hadn't flown away in fright. He angrily turned around to see who had interrupted him, and wasn't surprised to see the Lovegood Woman.

"Look at that," She practically whispered. She didn't seem to be paying Rolf any attention whatsoever, and was staring up into the same tree he had been. "Have you ever seen anything so marvelous? I finally found one. Oh, Daddy will be so happy." She took some grass out of her pocket and started waving it up at the tree, as if to attract it. "Look." She finally seemed to have noticed his existence. "You can't deny it now! That is a fully-grown Winged Warble!"

He followed her gaze up the tree, but all he saw was the Jobberknoll, who was looking very tempted by the grass she was waving around. "All I see is a Jobberknoll. You can tell by the feather shape and color. Look at that beak. It is clearly the same as described in my Grandfather's journal."

"What are you talking about?" she asked him, frowning for the first time since they had met. The Jobberknoll was hopping from branch to branch down the tree so it could reach the grass. "I've read your grandfather's journal, and this creatures feathers are far too small. They're long and thin, which is the complete opposite of a Jobberknoll, however it is exactly how the Warble is described in my father's magazine."

"Oh, because your father's magazine is completely reliable." Rolf felt his temper rising, and was both surprised and satisfied that he saw Lovegood's rising as well.

"And your grandfather's book?" She almost yelled at him, which was something she never did. She threw the grass onto the forest floor, and the Jobberknoll crouched down and started chomping away. "My father says it's chock full of errors. I didn't want to tell you in case I insulted you."

"'Father says this,' 'Father says that!'" He yelled back at her, "Don't you have any of your own thoughts, Woman? What do _you_ say? What do _you_ think?"

The Lovegood Woman looked shocked. No one had, apparently, asked her that her entire life. He could understand why they wouldn't, given that she'd probably give some crazy answer. "I think-" she said slowly. She looked down at the Jobberknoll between them. Unfazed by their loud argument, the Jobberknoll had finished the grass and had walked over to nuzzle Lovegood, in case she had any more to give. "I think that both Warbles and Jobberknolls fly."

"What?" Rolf asked her. This was not exactly the answer he had been expecting.

"They fly. But this little guy hopped down, and it doesn't look like he's injured. Why wouldn't he fly?"

Rolf knelt down next to the bird to get a better look. Obviously expecting more treats, it waddled toward him. This was not only uncommon for the Jobberknoll, it was unheard of.

"I have an idea!" Lovegood's usual faint smile had returned to her face as she gazed down at the creature. "Mr. Scamander, if you wouldn't mind, close your eyes for a minute."

"Why—"

"Just do it!" obediently, Rolf closed his eyes. "Now picture a giant blob of purple jelly where the bird was."

"What?"

"Picture it!" Rolf shrugged to himself and did as she said. "Now, look at the bird."

Rolf opened his eyes and gasped in shock. Sure enough, where there had been a Jobberknoll there was now a blob of purple jelly.

"You see?" Lovegood smiled at him, "It's not a Warble or a Jobberknoll. It just imitates them."

"Is it like a boggart?" Rolf asked, examining the jelly in front of him, "It shape-shifts into whatever we expect to see?"

"I think it's more of an illusion," She said, she reached out a hand to touch it, "Otherwise, why would we see different things?" It was almost as if her hand had gone inside the jelly as she went to touch it. "I came here expecting to find a Warble, so this creature appeared to be one to me. You expected to find a Jobberknoll, so that's how it appeared to you. Ah," She said, resting her hands on something inside the jelly. "There is an animal in here. The illusion must be a defensive mechanism, but it only works visually. To the touch, it's perfectly solid, here feel."

She grabbed his hand and pulled it into the jelly. Sure enough, there was a very soft skin under all the jelly.

They spent the rest of the day measuring the animal, giving descriptions based on touch, sound, and smell. They put the small animal under a number of behavior tests, which, for an armful of grass, the creature was only too willing to comply with.

"Luna!" Rolf said after a long days work, forgetting that he hated her and that they were not on a first name basis. "We just discovered an entirely new magical creature!" He smiled at her for the first time.

She returned his smile. "What should we call it?" She asked.

"Umm, illusion rodent?" He said tentatively. Sure enough, the creature that appeared before them, which they assumed was as close to it's actual appearance as they were likely to get, looked a great deal like a rodent.

She frowned. "How about, Bestia Inrideo?" She asked. Even as she said it, he knew it was the right one. "Or a mocking beast, for common use?"

He smiled at her and nodded, and then wrote the name on the pad where he had recorded the various facts about it. They both watched the small animal nuzzle up to Luna. "I think he likes you."

"Yes, I think he just might follow me home." She pet his tiny head with her finger.

"Do you think that's wise? I mean, we don't know if it's safe to bring him out of his environment."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine." She said as she picked him up. "I think we better call it a day, it's getting dark."

"Oh, right." Rolf hadn't even noticed the passing of time, he was too excited about their discovery. "Why don't you join me for a drink at the bar in celebration?" He asked her. "It's not every day you discover an entirely new creature."

"No, the bartender was quite rude to me when I informed him of his Wrackspurt problem. I don't think I'll go back there again." He nodded, remembering.

"Well," he said, "Perhaps tomorrow I could work with you to discover more about this little guy? Maybe we'll even find others like him."

She smiled up at him. "I would like that."

The began walking back towards the inn in silence, but when they were almost at the inn's door, he asked her, "So, what will you name this little guy?"

"Oh, I was planning on calling him Rolf."

He didn't know what to say at first, but finally he managed, "I'm flattered. Umm, if you don't mind me asking, why?"

She smiled at him again. Strangely, he didn't found her smile nearly as infuriating as he had that morning, "Oh, I just want to remember the name of the only person who was nice to me in this whole country."

She did not seem embarrassed as she turned into the inn, and probably upstairs. Rolf never knew, as he had stopped dead in his tracks staring at the now closed door. A wave of emotions crashed over him, guilt for being one of the ones to make fun of her, embarrassment at her compliment, anger at the ones who had upset her, and above all, complete pity for the poor woman who probably had to face the same criticism he did, when everyone around the both of them said chasing after animals like the little mocking beast was crazy.

Rolf turned to the bar and ordered a very large Firewhiskey.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Third and final chapter. Thank all you guys for reading and reviewing! I don't own Harry Potter.**

Later that night, not nearly as drunk as he thought he should be, Rolf walked back to his room at the inn. As he passed by Luna's room, he thought he heard something very similar to sobbing.

Not completely sure why, he knocked on the door and calmly asked, "Luna? Are you okay? Can I come in?" He heard a muffled_ Alohomora_ and the door unlocked to reveal Luna crouched over her desk, her normally dreamy eyes red and filled with tears.

"Luna what's wrong?" Rolf came over to her and examined what she had been looking at.

"Letters." Luna explained as he picked up one of the pieces of papers, "Letters of the people who sighted the Warble. They all seemed to have heard of the Warble before they saw it. Rolf, I think—" She looked up at him as though she was in pain, "Rolf, I think all these sightings were actually of Mocking Beasts! Look-" She picked up one letter, "_After reading in your esteemed paper about the Winged Warble, I went out searching through the forest looking for one_. They're all like that, they had been specifically looking for the Warble, so that's how a Mocking Beast would have appeared to them. What if that means—" She took a gulp of air, "What if that means that there is no such thing as a Winged Warble?" She began sobbing again.

Rolf put a hand on her shoulder which he hoped was comforting, "Luna, before today, no one believed in a Mocking Beast. No one had ever heard of one before, but look at the creature on your desk." She looked up and smiled to see Little Rolf curled on top of one of the letters, looking quite at ease.

"But what about the Crumpled-Horn Snorcack? What about Wrackspurts, or Nargals? Do you really believe they all exist? Honestly?"

Rolf was on the threshold of saying that he believed it was at least possible in order to spare her feelings, until she said, 'honestly.' She had always been honest with everyone, to the point where no one in the village liked her. He could at least afford to give her the honest truth.

"No, personally, I don't think any of those creatures exist, but Luna," he took a deep breath before continuing, "There are so many creatures that no one else has discovered before. Maybe, even if you don't find a- a Snore Axe or whatever, you can find other creatures, like the Mocking Beast." He smiled and then said, "Who found those tracks in the dirt, that I thought were Jobberknoll? Who found the excrement, which I could never have recognized? Don't you see, you were able to figure out that this little guy was a creature no one had discovered yet, not me. And I bet you could find other creatures the same way."

She smiled up at him and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Thank you. That was a very nice thing to say, but I wouldn't have figured out what a Mocking Beast was if you weren't there. The only way was that we each saw two different things, so I knew it had to be an illusion. I would have just thought it was a Warble and moved on if you hadn't been there."

He patted her on the back a moment as he couldn't think of what to say, until an idea came into his head, and before he could give it enough thought, he had blurted it out, "Hey, how about we be research partners? We could go out into the wilderness together and look for other creatures no one has discovered yet."

She looked at him with the same level of astonishment as he felt at his own words. "I'd like that," she said. Her normal dreamy-eyed smile returned to her face, and Rolf realized how pretty she looked when she was like that. "I'd like that very much."


End file.
